Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a big plan for Optimus humanoid robots.
On Friday, the early prototype of the Optimus humanoid robot proposed by Tesla slowly and clumsyly stepped onto the stage, turning around and waved to the cheering crowd.
However, the basic task of this robot with bare wires and electronics—and the next generation version that had to be carried on stage by three men—is far from CEO Elon Musk ’s vision of changing humanoid robots. world.
Musk told the crowd that many of them may be hired by Tesla and that robots can do much more than viewers see on Friday. He said it was also fragile, "We just don't want it to fall on the face."
Musk said the problem with the gorgeous robot demonstration is that the robot "lacks the brain" and does not have the intelligence to self-navigate, but he provided little evidence on Friday that Optimus is smarter than the robot developed by other companies and researchers.
The demo did not impress AI researcher Filip Piekniewski, who tweeted that it was "the next level of dreadful" and a "complete and thorough scam." He said it would be "good test drops because this thing will drop a lot."
"None of these are the most advanced," bot expert Cynthia Yeung wrote on Twitter. "Hext some PhDs and attend some robotics conferences @Tesla."
Why is a humanoid robot?
Yeung also questioned why Tesla chose to have its robots with five-finger hands similar to humans, and pointed out that there is a reason for the warehouse robots developed by startups to use two- or three-finger clamps.
Musk said Friday night was the first time that early robots stepped onto the stage without a tether. Tesla's goal is to mass-produce "powerful" robots — possibly millions — that may cost less than a car, he said, which he speculated would be less than $20,000.
Tesla showed video of the robot, which carried a box and put a metal rod into a machine that looked like a factory machine using the artificial intelligence that Tesla is testing in its "fully autonomous" vehicle. But there is no live demonstration of the robot completing the task.
employees told people in Palo Alto, California and people watching through live streams that they have been working for Optimus for six to eight months. Musk said people may be able to buy an Optimus Prime "in three to five years."
employees said that Optimus Prime robots will have four fingers and a thumb, and have a tendon-like system, so they can possess human dexterity.
The robot is powered by giant artificial intelligence computers that track millions of video frames from "fully autonomous" cars. They say similar computers will be used to teach tasks to robots. Experts in the field of robots doubt whether Tesla is about to launch a large number of human-like home robots that can do the "useful things" Musk hopes they do - such as cooking, mowing lawns, and surveillance of elderly grandmothers. "When you try to develop a robot that is both affordable and practical, the shape and size of the human figure are not necessarily the best way to do it," said Tom Ryden, executive director of Mass Robotics, a nonprofit startup incubator. "
Tesla is not the first robot
Tesla is not the first automobile company to experiment with human figure robots.
More than 20 years ago, Honda introduced Asimo, which resembles a life-sized space suit and demonstrated the ability to pour liquid into a cup in a carefully planned demonstration. Hyundai also acquired robot company Boston Dynamics in 2021, owning a series of human-like robots and animal-like robots. Ford teamed up with Oregon startup Agility Robotics, which manufactures robots with two legs and two arms that can walk and lift packages.
Ryden said automakers’ research on humanoid robots could lead to machines being able to walk, climb and cross obstacles, but the impressive demonstrations of the past have not brought about “actual use scenarios” like hype.
"They learned a lot from understanding how humanoid robots work," he said. "But in terms of directly using humanoid robots as products, I'm not sure if this will happen soon."
critics also said a few years ago that Musk and Tesla could not build a profitable new car company that uses batteries instead of gasoline as power.
Tesla is testing "fully autonomous" vehicles on public roads, but must be monitored by selected owners, who must be ready to intervene at any time. The company said about 160,000 vehicles equipped with the testing software are currently on the road.
critics say Tesla, which relies on cameras and powerful computers to drive autonomously, does not have enough sensors to drive safely. Tesla's weaker Autopilot driver assistance system, with the same camera sensor, is under investigation by U.S. safety regulators because the system brakes for no reason and hits emergency vehicles with flashes on the highway multiple times.
In 2019, Musk promised that a fleet of autonomous taxis would be put into use by the end of 2020. They are still under test.
